Clouds linger; mild temps and a chance of flakes

Cold stretch for the end of January?

Mild (for January) temps will be with us today. Our average Twin Cities high temp is 23 degrees this time of year. MSP airport touched 33 degrees around midnight, and metro area temps will be in the upper 20s much of today. Daytime highs will be in the 20s across most of Minnesota. Southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin will see some lower 30s. Saturday winds will be gusting over 20 mph at times in western Minnesota.

Snow chances?

Scattered light snow showers are possible this Saturday in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. A few spots could also see a bit of freezing mist.

The northern half of Minnesota could see patchy light snow showers on Sunday. That chance of light snow showers spreads into southern Minnesota and the Twin Cities metro area by late Sunday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s North American Mesoscale (NAM) forecast model shows the potential precipitation pattern Sunday through Sunday evening:

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Simulated radar Sunday and Sunday evening
NOAA, via Tropicaltidbits.com

You can hear updated weather information for Minnesota and western Wisconsin on the MPR network, and you’ll see updated weather info on the MPR News live weather blog.

Temperature trends

Sunday highs will be in the 20s in most areas, but southwestern Minnesota may creep into the lower 30s:

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Sunday forecast highs
National Weather Service

Sunday afternoon wind gusts of 10-17 mph are expected in most areas, with gusts over 20 mph in southwestern Minnesota:

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Sunday noon forecast wind gusts
National Weather Service

Plotted winds are in knots, with 12 knots equal to around 14 mph.

Back to temperatures, Twin Cities metro area highs are projected to reach the mid 20s on Monday, then around 20 on Tuesday. Temps rebound after that, with highs in the lower 30s for Wednesday and Thursday. Friday will be cold, with a high in the middle teens.

We could see a stretch of cool weather from next weekend into the following week. The NWS Climate Prediction Center shows a tendency for below-normal temperatures from Jan. 23 through Jan. 29:

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Temperature outlook Jan. 23 through Jan. 29
NWS Climate Prediction Center

We’ll see if that pans out.

Really mild January so far

Our average temperature (average of all the daily high temps and low temps) this January is running 9.8 degrees warmer than normal in the Twin Cities. Duluth is running 13.8 degrees warmer than normal so far this month. International Falls is 19.7 degrees warmer than normal this January. You might say that we’re all overdue for some chillier temps.

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on MPR News at 7:35 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 4:39 p.m. each Saturday and Sunday.